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All right, so if you're there in Luke chapter number 12, keep your place there because we're going to come back to it here in a little while, but what I want you to do is to go over to Luke chapter number 13. Go to Luke chapter number 13, and we are going to read five verses and then get into what we're talking about this evening. Luke chapter number 13, look at verse number one, the Bible says they were present at that season, some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, you shall all likewise perish. Or those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay, but except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Now go a few chapters over to chapter number 16, Luke chapter number 16. So in those first five verses there, we're going to break them down here in a little while, tell you what's going on, the context, all that good stuff. But basically the question was posed about the degree of sinners that bad things happen to, okay? And we're going to break that down and discuss that because when you read that, you could tell that the people that are present here asking this, they don't seem to understand what's going on, okay? You have these people that died and maybe they thought they were good or what have you because Pilate and what he did was definitely wicked. And then Jesus tells them that no, that's not why these things happen. Well, if we don't break this down, that could leave some people to think, well, what does that mean? Life isn't fair. Here's one more verse before we get into it. Luke chapter 16, look at verse number 25. Very familiar passage, we use it all the time to talk about various doctrines. Look at verse 25, it says this. This is Abraham speaking with the rich man with Lazarus at his side. And he says in verse 25, but Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things. And likewise, Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. So the title of the sermon this evening is a question, and that is, Is Life Fair? Is Life Fair? And you can see in this passage here, if you're familiar with the story, you'll know that if you take Lazarus, you study his life in this rich man. The rich man, while he was alive on Earth, seemed to have it pretty well. He had a lot of resources, probably anything he wanted, he could obtain. He was well taken care of, respected, looked up to by the community, as most rich people are. Then you have this guy who desired just the crumbs that fell from his table to be fed. He had sores, definitely lived a bad, discomforting style life. And people will look at a situation like that and say, man, that doesn't seem very fair now, does it? But think about this, in the end, who is comforted? Who is blessed? And of course, that's a little foreshadowing for the end of the sermon there. But you think about a person who, say they're married. Say you have a dad who's married. It's Father's Day this Sunday. Dad is married, right? Been working at a job for years, on his way to work in the morning. It's early morning. It's 5 o'clock in the morning. And somebody who just left a party, somebody who's drunk, runs a red light and smashes that person, and he dies. And then the question gets brought up, is that fair? Why would God allow something like that to happen? Or think about all these random crimes that take place. We have these people that are just hell-bent on doing evil, and they just randomly pick a house in a nice neighborhood to go into and to either murder or assault, do something horrible. The question often gets brought up, why does God allow that? Life just doesn't seem fair. Now, there's a statement here that I came across from one of our church members the other day. And I kind of just wrote down a synthesis of it. And we're going to break this down into three different things. And I want to read it for you. And the statement goes like this. Why do good things have to happen to bad people? And why do bad things have to happen to good people? Life isn't fair. We're going to break down those three statements within this single statement. Number one, why do good things have to happen to bad people? Now, what I want you to do is turn over to Psalm chapter number 37. Psalm chapter number 37. And so let's take this statement as you're turning to Psalm chapter 37. Why do good things have to happen to bad people? Now, the first thing about a statement like this is that it's pretty vague. It's not very clear. So what I like to do when I'm confronted with this out soul winning or in a discussion with somebody is to say, who are bad people? That's the first thing that you need to do to respond to this. Who are bad people? Let's say you're talking to somebody who's not saved or maybe a babe in Christ. Ask them, what do you mean by who are bad people? Let them define. Now, sometimes out soul winning, and this is becoming more and more popular in our day and age, people will say things like, well, the pedophile. Well, we have the answer to that. And unfortunately, the sermon where I answered that got taken down by YouTube. So I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that. But again, quick summary, it's not God's fault. It's the government's fault. We'll cover that again in the future because it's important. But if they say things, well, people that I just don't like, people that like Ford, or people that like, what do you mean by bad people? Are we talking about reprobates here? Are they naming these types of people off? Well, then you know which direction to go to. But before you attack this, you want to ask this individual kindly, what do you mean who are bad people? Let them give the definition. Well, people that just do bad things, people that don't take care of their families, just people that drink beers. We've had all kinds of answers. I've had people say, well, people that don't go to church, that don't serve God, these are bad people. Okay, you need to understand exactly what they mean by that if you're going to help these people out. And so let's take a look at this statement. Why do good things have to happen to bad people? Now, obviously more often than not, what people mean by that is why do these people that are high up in government like Bill Gates, these George Soros types, these Bidens, you know, these crime-ridden families, these people that control the earth, why does it seem like they continue to prosper? Okay, that's typically what people mean. And so let's get into it here. Let's dig into this, Psalm chapter number 37, look at verse number one. So the Bible says this, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. And that's one that'll often get people here. That's one that'll often, that bothers us, workers of iniquity, okay? When you take that statement there, workers of iniquity, that's definitely a broad category of people. It's people that work the opposite of righteousness. Now, to be fair, you read Matthew chapter number seven, workers of iniquity are people that teach human achievement, people that teach you have to repent of your sins in order to be saved. If you're a soul winner, you go to this church, you know, you've been around this crew for a while, you probably hate that, the passion, you know, and you've probably said a prayer or two to have some of these false prophets removed from the earth and rightfully so. But the question is, and what we're supposed to do about evildoers, about the workers of iniquity, is we're not supposed to fret ourselves, we're not supposed to worry about it. That's what this Psalm's saying right off the bat, right out of the gate, do not fret, do not allow yourself to dwell on why they seem to prosper. You say why, we're gonna get into it. Verse two, look at what this says. For they, who are the they? The evildoers, the workers of iniquity, these are what the Bible would define as bad people, okay? See, do you see the importance on why we need to ask that question? What do you mean by bad people? Do you really know what bad people are? Well, how about evildoers, workers of iniquity, reprobates, okay? Verse two, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. If you believe God's word, this is a guarantee. This is an absolute promise from God himself. So you say, how am I not supposed to fret or trip out over this stuff? How can I not worry? Verse two, they will get what is coming to them. It is a guarantee, it is a promise. You say, yeah, but it seems to be taking forever and what's going on? Keep your place right here in Psalm 37, but go back to the New Testament and go over to 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter number two. Go to 2 Peter chapter number two and let's take a look at verse number eight. So in Peter's second epistle here, he writes this. Look at verse eight. It says, but, actually back up to verse seven, 2 Peter three, look at verse seven. It says, but the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Okay, that's exactly what Psalm 37 is talking about. That's exactly what we're dealing with right now, who are bad people. When will they get their judgment? When is it gonna come back to them? Now look at verse number eight. I want you to see how important this first part of this verse is. Not to say that the whole verse isn't important, but just listen to this. Verse eight, but beloved. So again, who is he talking to? He's talking to the believer. This is an epistle to believers. This is for Christian conduct, how to think, how to live your life. Verse eight, but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. Stop right there. Okay, so in regards to these ungodly men, who we could say are bad people, these evildoers, these workers of iniquity, in regards to them, Peter says this. Be not ignorant of this one thing, because this one thing is gonna make the difference in your thinking and how you deal with these people. Look at the rest of the verse. That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Understand, yes, we're confined to this earth, we live here, we're subject to the rules of time, temperature, everything that God has set in order to take place on this earth. We live here, all we know is the time and how we feel and how we see. But what we need to not be ignorant of is how God sees. God is outside of our time. He is in eternity. And to him, a day, one day is like a thousand years or one thousand years is like a day, okay? He can see the beginning from the end, the end from the beginning, and so he knows and he's already promised us several times throughout the scriptures that judgment will come on these people. So if we allow ourselves to not be ignorant of this thing, then guess what? We're not gonna fret over this. We're gonna, that anxiety that you and I feel, and it does come. When you look at the news or somebody sends you something about this going on and just pride month and these freaks and all this stuff going on, it seems like this world's just definitely going to hell in a handbasket and it will and can cause anxiety, but we're commanded to not be ignorant of how time really works and the fact that God will judge these people. It is a guarantee, it is a promise. We just need to let go of, God, you gotta do it now, because I said so. I mean, look at the news, look what's going on. They hung the pride flag up at the White House. Come back now, okay? God's timing is better than our timing. Go back to Psalm chapter 37. Verse two, one more time. For they, okay, the evildoers, the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Okay, read that slowly on your own time again. What does that mean? They're going to hell. They are going to wither away. They are not going to have eternal life. They are not going to be the opposite of John 3.16 and perish, okay? Or not perish, they will perish. That is what that means. Look at verse three, trust in the Lord. So this is what we are supposed to do, don't fret. Here's why, verse three, trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed. And you might think, well, that's just to the Old Testament. That was just so that the children of Israel could stay in the promised land. There's still application here, okay? Trust in the Lord. Trust in verse two, understand, don't be ignorant, understand that they have their day, it will come. It is a 100% guarantee. Trust in the Lord and do good. Why does it say that? Why does it say and do good? Well, here's why. Because it's easy for us being in the flesh and allowing ourselves to fret about the evil and the wickedness going on, that we could just say, you know what? I'm not doing any good. I'm not making an impact. Okay, it's easy to fall into that mindset. Well, there's just so much wicked and they're getting away with it. People are getting away with murder. And that's a fact today. That's always been a fact. And that's going to increase. The solution is do good anyways. Work for the kingdom. Look at verse four. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Very simple, right? You delight in the Lord, you delight in his law. What it says, guess what? You're not going to fret over these things. And also your desires are going to be to further his kingdom. They will fall in line with edifying the brethren and evangelizing the lost. That is what is going to happen. Verse five, commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. You say, how do I get these things that I'm praying for to come to pass? There's these wicked people. Look, we just had our prayer time. Okay, one of the prayers that's always on the prayer list is that these wicked people in our governments would be exposed. And it does happen. It happens quite frequently, okay? And guess what? We're the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And we need to start functioning in those two capacities. And that's why we need to pray that God would send more laborers into his harvest so that we could teach them to do the same thing. And then guess what? Things will get better. Obviously the end of the world is going to come either way. But hey, to depart from this earth is far better. And that's what Paul said. It's always better to be with Christ. So you can't lose either way you slice it. Verse six, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noon day. Go over to Proverbs, Proverbs chapter number 23. Proverbs chapter number 23. Look at verse number 17. So Solomon in his wisdom says this, let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Another byproduct of allowing yourself to fret over evil doers and why they're rewarded and things of this nature, why it seems like they're rewarded is that you could become envious of their so-called success. And that could take you from the spiritual back over to a mindset that is solely focused on the physical and the material goods and wealth of this temporary world. And that is not where we are called to be. Look at verse 18. He says, for surely there is an end and thine expectation shall not be cut off. Okay, these sinners or these evil doers that this is really talking about here. Again, they have their day. Judgment is coming. They will get cut down. Verse 19, hear thou my son and be wise and guide thine heart in the way. And then literally what you read after that are warnings about wine bibbers and about just strange women and wickedness and things of that nature. So you can leave your place there and go to Romans chapter number three. Romans chapter number three. So again, the question has been asked, why do good things happen to bad people? Okay, what does the Bible say? It's all temporary, okay? It is all temporary. We're gonna answer that in a little bit more detail here at the end of the sermon, but it's all temporary. They have judgment coming. So can you really say that good things are happening to them? What, that they have a lot of money? That they're rich? That they're getting away with things in this corrupt legal system that we have? Is that really a good thing? That is not a good thing. That is a bad thing. So let's move on to the second question, the second statement, which is this. Why do bad things have to happen to good people? And again, my first question is who are good people? Okay, that's gonna tell you who you're talking to. Okay, because there's a good person, a person that's repenting of their sins and under probation and working their way to heaven. Okay, well then guess what? We need to stop the conversation right there and teach them the fact that, hey, Romans chapter three, we're all sinners. Okay, we all deserve to go to hell and you need to preach the gospel to them. But are you talking to a babe in Christ, somebody who doesn't know? The question remains the same. Who are good people? And what do you mean by that? Because the passages that we opened up with, okay, people would probably say, hey, the Galileans whom Pilate violated or who, whatever that story is all about, okay, people would say, hey, those were good people that Pilate mingled their blood with sacrifices or the tower of Siloam. Good people died in just this random event. Why does that happen? Why did God allow that to happen? We're gonna break that down. Let's take a look at something here. So who are good people? What does the Bible say about good people? Romans chapter three, look at verse number nine. It says, what then? Are we better than they? No and no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. So again, no person, whether you're a Jew, Gentile, you know, one is not better than the other. Okay, verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. We use that all the time, verse 11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, verse 12. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. Now look at this. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. This is what needs to be stated. This is what needs to be clearly communicated to somebody who is mixed up on this. First of all, there is none good. The only way you can be good, the only way you can be righteous, is to have it imputed unto you, Romans chapter four, from God, to receive the free gift of eternal life, which we'll get there, we'll talk about that in a minute. Now go back to Romans chapter one. Go back over just a few pages in your Bible, Romans chapter one. Everybody knows exactly how to find this. It's probably, you know, sword drills for this, everybody wins, everybody's got it. But here's, I just wanna kinda highlight a problem, okay? Because there are people out there who we would say are evildoers, who we would say are workers of iniquity, they would make this statement. Well, why do bad things happen to good people, okay? Well, who do they say good people are? These freaks out here? Joe Biden and his cabinet? I mean, what do you mean by that? Romans chapter one, look at verse 32. It says, who knowing the judgment of God, talking about the reps, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have, look at this, have pleasure in them that do them. And this is clearly saying here that there are evildoers out there that would say, hey, my fellow man who supports this is a good person. Why do bad things happen to them? They would take a look at God's judgment upon these people and say, hey, that's wrong. And they would use that to mock God. They would use that to try to cast doubt and shame on God. So why do bad things have to happen to good people? Well, according to the Bible, there are no good people. The only good people that are around are the people that have the new man. The saved, go to Luke chapter 12, where I first had you turn. Luke chapter number 12. So we're gonna use the story here in Luke 13. We're gonna break it down, but I just wanna give you some context real quick just so that you know where we're at and kinda what's going on here. So Luke chapter 13, I read those verses where it says there were present at that season some that told him, meaning Jesus, of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. What's going on? Well, if you go back to chapter number 12, look at verse number one, it says this, in the meantime, when they were gathered together, an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all. Now, the parallel passage to this you can find in Matthew chapter 16, which we've already covered on Sunday mornings several weeks ago. And the reason why I'm bringing this up is so that you know kinda the time period of Christ's ministry and what was going on. So they were going around the Sea of Galilee and they're in the town called Magdala, which is south of Capernaum and they're preaching the gospel and people are hearing about the miracles and so this innumerable multitude of people. So you have people that are, I would say, a reprobate concerning the faith. You got some Pharisees, your Sadducees, scribes, those people who have rejected Christ. You have people that just wanna hear what's going on. They're hanging in the balance. And then you have the disciples and you probably have people there that are saved and Jesus is beginning to teach. Okay, so go back to chapter number 13 and let's break down these verses here and see if we can get more clarification on why do bad things have to happen to good people. So again, verse number one, it says, they were present at that season. Okay, what that season that he begins to teach doctrine to this big crowd and his disciples first. It says then, they were present at that season, some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Definitely not something that's good, okay. Verse two, and Jesus answering said unto them, so these people, okay. So they're letting him know this and he says, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all Galileans because they suffered such things. So Jesus wants to communicate the answer to this statement here. And he's saying, okay, you brought this up. Do you think it's because they were more wicked or because they had more sins? And then he says, he gives them the answer in verse three and tell you nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Now, another reason why I had you go to Luke chapter number 12 in verse one is because people will often bring you here to teach you. Well, see, Jesus is talking to the disciples and he's telling them they gotta repent on a daily basis or they ain't saved, okay. But it's good for you to understand the context and the fact that you have three groups of people here like I just mentioned. It's an innumerable amount of people. It is a mixed crowd. He's not saying this to the disciples. He's saying this to these random people who brought this situation to his attention. And he's telling them that they need to repent, i.e. believe on him and be saved. That is what he is talking about. So hopefully that just kind of extra credit there for you will help you out. Look at verse four. He says, or those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and it slew them. Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Verse five, I tell you nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. What in the world does that mean, okay? He wants them to take their focus off of works, off of this idea that, well, this must have happened because they were bad, right? This comes up all the time. It comes up in the Gospel of John, you know, where the disciples were like, Lord, is he blind because his parents were really bad sinners? He's like, no, the guy was born blind so that God's power could be made manifest before your eyes, before the eyes of this present world and the world to come as this gets preserved in truth for all generations. That is fact. That is what's going on here. He's trying to take their mind off of the physical event and say, hey, you need to understand, guys, this random stuff here, this is part of life. There's a reason for this, which we're gonna answer here in just a moment in the last part of this statement here. There is someone who is actually running the world right now with permission. And think about this, there is someone right now that is controlling things with permission from God, he's allowed to do that, and we are outnumbered. What I mean by that is these three groups of people that we always talk about, you got your reprobates, right, vague group of people, okay? You got your reprobate concerning the faith, just reject people that God has rejected. You have those in the world, okay? Now, who do you think's will they're gonna do? Well, they're gonna do the chief's will, the devil's will. Then you have these people that are unsaved, that are in positions of power, that don't have the wisdom of God, okay? Starting to see where I'm going for this? Humanity, the Bible says the flesh is corrupt. And then you have the saved, the minority. The Bible says there are a few people that are saved. Okay, there's not a lot of saved, born-again, Bible-believing Christians in positions of power and living their life according to wisdom. And so I'm bringing this up to let you know that the byproduct of that is bad things happen. Bad things happen to people, okay? And you say, well, what do we do about it? I'm gonna show you that at the end. Go over to Ecclesiastes, Old Testament, Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. So we're gonna get back into that, okay? We're gonna get back into that here in a minute. Let's break down this third part of the statement, okay? So after why do good things happen to bad people, why do bad things happen to good people, the last part of that statement is life isn't fair. Well, let's start off with some basic statements here. So you're gonna go to Ecclesiastes chapter seven. My questions, I got two questions for this, okay? Who told you it was supposed to be? And wait for the response. Who told you that life was supposed to be fair? I guess the third question would be what do you mean by fair? Always get clarification from people on these things. There's nothing wrong with asking questions. They're throwing out a statement, you have the right to ask questions. Look, a lot of people just cannot answer these things. There's no shame. These things trip people up. I get it, I understand that, okay? But you need to ask them, who told you it was supposed to be fair? And then the next one I would ask is what would fair look like to you? So if you were running things, if you were in charge of the world, what would fair look like to you? Okay, and then based off that response, right, you as a student of the Bible compare that, what they say, to the word of God, and then you proceed from there. But let's just take a look at a couple of basic statements and then we'll get a little bit deeper into why life isn't fair and why bad things happen and so on and so forth. Look at what Solomon says here in verse 15. Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse 15, he says, all things have I seen in the days of my vanity. There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness. I think about this often, I have, you know, I think about this all the time myself. I've got an uncle that's a sodomite that's over 80 years old and still alive. How, it's like, how is that? How does that work? Maybe you have the same thing, maybe you know the same thing. You know, these things happen. Solomon acknowledges that. You know what he's telling you here? Life isn't fair. No one ever told you that it would be fair. If you even know what fair means, go to Matthew chapter number five. Matthew chapter number five. And look at verse number 45. Matthew chapter five, verse 45. Jesus says this, given the sermon on the mount. He says that ye, Matthew 5 45, that ye may be the children of your father, which is in heaven, for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. God has a purpose in this. His purpose is to prove to people that they have a chance, first of all. Think about this. If you don't see suffering, if you don't see pain, if you don't go through what we're going through, why would you need a savior? It kind of goes back to the gospel presentation, right? You have to let people know the fact that they need a savior. And you have to go through that with them. It's the same thing with this question. You have to let people know that life isn't fair. And we'll get into why here in a minute, a deeper reason why, okay? Life isn't fair. There are people that are righteous, there are Christians, there are people who are born again, do everything right, and they drop dead. Or someone just randomly kills them. And those are good people, it happens. Why is that? Here's the thing. If you don't see the wickedness of this world under the leadership of the devil, what's the motivation for you to want to go to the one who gives light, who gives life? Think about that. Communicate that to people, let them know that. And by the way, you might say, well, okay, but in eternity, when everything is perfect and everything is fair, why can't we just have that now? Well, you know what's gonna make that eternity so much better and so much more enjoyable? Is the fact that we had to go through this first. And we get the privilege, unfortunate privilege, of being able to be a part of this and see this and understand why we were saved. I mean, think about it. You wanna play fair, 50-50, everything's equal, guess what, no one's getting saved. Because we have all violated God's law, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But guess what, the Bible says for by grace, are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. Right, it's the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Is that fair? No, it isn't fair. So thank God that life isn't fair. Go to Ephesians chapter number two. Ephesians chapter number two. And I just wanna give you a deeper look here into the world system. So again, yeah, think about that. Was it fair for Jesus to suffer for us? What did he do wrong? Nothing. But he decided anyways to come down, live that perfect life that you and I could not live, and died in our place so that we could have the chance at inheriting, receiving eternal life. So let's answer this question. Who does this world belong to currently? Obviously God is in charge. God is the head of everything. Okay, but we have this thing in life called free will. And since the fall of man, since man wanted to listen to the serpent, since man said, okay, I'll take what you have to say and give it a shot. And God said, oh, you wanna go under his leadership? Let's see how you like it. And here 6,000 plus years later, okay, the devil's leadership sucks. It's terrible, it's horrible, which is why we have all of these horrible things that go on on this planet. Ephesians 2, look at verse number two. Paul says this, wherein time past ye walked according to the, look at this, the course of this world. The Bible here is describing for us that there is a course, a circuit, a pattern of the way that this world runs and things that go on. And who sets that pattern? Well, look at the rest of the verse. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. See the devil is being allowed to run this world. Think about the millennium. He's locked up for a thousand years. What happens afterwards? He's loosed for a little season. And people will follow him. And the world temporarily will go back a little bit to the way it is now. Go to Matthew chapter number 24. We're getting closer to being done. Matthew chapter number 24. So we see that the devil is actually currently running the world, okay, the earth. He's running the course of the world right now. Matthew chapter 24, let's see what his agenda is. Jesus says this in verse 22. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. So we have the devil who sets the course of this world. You ever wonder why a person who actually cares about a nation never really stays in power for that long? It's because of the prince and the power of the air. Go read the book of Daniel. And you can see even in Daniel's day, the struggle in the eternal for positions of power, okay? Go to John chapter number 15. John chapter number 15. Remember man is made in God's image and the devil has lied to the world and says, well, you follow me, you do this, I'll take care of you. Yeah, you get temporary benefits on this earth, but the end is destruction and eternal fire. The devil doesn't care. The Bible says that if he had his way, he would destroy every living, breathing thing that God has made. That is what his agenda is. And so because that's his agenda, that is why bad things happen to the righteous. That's why bad things happen to good people. But really, let's say again, we say this all the time, somebody who's saved, somebody who's righteous, unfortunately gets taken out. It's taken out from this earth, taken away from the family. Okay, he just changed locations. He's in a better spot, a better place. But the world, they can't say that, though they do say that. We can say that with a certainty. So is it really that bad things happened to good people? Hopefully you're starting to see the answer to that. The answer is no, because God is there for his elect, which are the saved. John 15, 19. Pay attention to this. This is gonna really help you to understand everything and really put this together. John 15, look at verse number 19. The Bible says this. If you were of the world, so this is Jesus here speaking to these Pharisees, these Sadducees, these people that are always attacking him. He says, if you were of the world, or sorry, he's talking to the disciples here. He says, if you were of the world, the world would love his own. You see that? If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you, and he's just talking to the disciples here, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. This is part of what we're gonna talk about now. Like what do we do about all this stuff? The best thing that you can do, obviously, and this is gonna help you to not fret, but is to understand your ambassadorship. Understand that you do not belong to this world. That is what Jesus is saying. You say, yeah, but I live here. Yes, but you are here as an ambassador. Think about the ambassadors that we've had and sent to other countries, just for a second. Do you think that they all go down to a lot of these countries and they're like, wow, this is great. I'm sure some of them do, but most of them are like, wow, this is terrible. This isn't fair, this government here isn't fair. Okay, and I'll bet you that those ambassadors are glad that they have the embassy to fall back onto. You know what your embassy is, your safe spot? You know what your embassy is here on earth? It's the local New Testament church that's right on doctrine, that's right on the gospel. That's your embassy. And that's where you're gonna find that regrouping. That's where you're gonna find that strength and that power to continue to navigate in this unfair world, ruled by the devil who sets the course of this world. So that is going to be the first thing is to understand that life isn't always fair. And think about this also, we aren't fair. We're flesh, the flesh profiteth nothing. The flesh doesn't profit anything that is good. We are sinners, the flesh is corrupt. So the first bit of application, the first thing that we need to understand if we're not gonna fret over evil doers is the very fact that yes, the devil runs the course of this world. And because of that, and because there's so many people under his spell caught in his snare, we're ambassadors. And that is, look, that is how you have to look at this. That is how you have to wake up every single day and look at life, that you are here as an ambassador. This is not your home. Write down John chapter 15, verse 19, memorize it, write it down with your hand and really think about that. And it will help you out tremendously. This is how you have to look at life. You are here temporary, you are on assignment. This is your temporary duty. This is your TD wife. You know what I'm talking about here. This is your temporary assignment. Hey, go to second Corinthians chapter number five. So I'm gonna give you two more things and then we'll close. Second Corinthians chapter number five. So number one, we understand that life isn't fair, okay? And number two, which I already alluded to, okay, and this is only for the believer, obviously. Look at what Paul says about your ambassadorship, verse 20. He says, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. You are an ambassador. What is an ambassador's role? It is to persuade. It is to change the culture. That's what we're here for. We are here to get people on the side of the Lord, to persuade people to believe on Christ, to show Christ in what he has done for us. That is our mission here, okay? And we understand through that fact that we are ambassadors, that we live in a fallen world that is corrupt and therefore temporarily good things will happen to bad people and bad things will happen to good people. He says, as though God did beseech you by us. So look at that again. Now then, we Christians are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you. You need to take this personal, you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. This is your mission. This is what we are here for. This is what we do. Number three, I'm not gonna have you really turn anywhere. I'm just gonna give it to you. Number three, we have to navigate this world as an ambassador using the light of God, using the word of God. In fact, I will have you turn one more spot. Go to Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians chapter five. Last place, we're gonna be done. So number three, we need to learn how to navigate this world as an ambassador using light. You see, an ambassador gets briefed, an ambassador gets trained, and then sent to his respective country, the country that he is going to go to. And they have plans and they live and conduct their everyday lives in accordance to what the government told them they must do. We need to do the same thing. And we get those instructions from the word of God. We get our ambassadorship and our roles and our rules of engagement from the Bible. Let's see here, look at verse 13, Ephesians five, verse 13. Paul says this, he says, but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Okay, so what is he talking about? He's talking about using scripture, using the word of God to prove whether something is good or bad. We talked about that on Sunday, verse 14. Wherefore, he saith, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give the light. Verse 15, see then that ye walk circumspectly, but not as fools, but as wise. Okay, very familiar verse. I love to read that as often as possible because we need that constant reminder. It is safe. We are called to walk according to wisdom, okay? And we do that through learning the word of God. We do that by constantly coming back to the embassy to get our truth and to fellowship and to regroup and to recharge because guess what? You know, an ambassador in a faraway country is gonna find himself lonely at times, find life hard, find life unfair. And how does he get comfort? How does he get some resemblance to his kingdom? We have to go to a place, to a building, to a compound that is set up like his home country and that is how church is supposed to be. That is what we are supposed to do. That is how you navigate life. Because guess what? Life is not fair. And thank God for that, right? Because we violated God's law, Christ suffered for us and we didn't deserve it. And so if you can remember that, that is going to help you to not fret over these things, not to be worried, and I'm not saying anybody is. You know, obviously you've been coming here long enough, you're not fretting about these things. You got it, you're good to go. I just wanted to cover these things to hopefully give you some comfort, give you some things. Remember the questions, okay? When you get these statements out, so wanting and they come up often, get clarification. What do you mean by bad people? Who are good people? What is fair? Then once you get that information, then you go to the word of God, then you make manifest. Then you take what they said and you shine this light and you tell them what your home country is like, eternity. You know what it's like. You have the Bible, you have the truth. You come to church, you know what the embassy is like. You understand these things, okay? And that is how you are going to deal with this. And hopefully this is a help and a comfort to all of you. I'm gonna stop right there for tonight. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church. And I just pray, Lord, that you would send people that have this question, Lord, send our church to those people because I believe that we can definitely help them, Lord, and provide them the answers that they're looking for and the comfort that they need. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen.